


Tears at the Seams

by ladyelainemalfoy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 06:09:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1458844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyelainemalfoy/pseuds/ladyelainemalfoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy are doomed in a marriage disliked by everyone and everyone except the two would do everything to tear them apart. Will the couple find true love despite their circumstances or will their marriage live up to its name as the "Doomed Marriage of the Century."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tears at the Seams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Douda_Dew](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Douda_Dew/gifts).



The second of May each year following the fall of Lord Voldemort was a day of new beginnings in the Wizarding World. Every year, a new law is passed by the Wizengamot for the betterment of the society. Hermione Granger, a war heroine, had been offered a position in the Wizengamot the year after her graduation in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was the youngest female member of the high court and she was as feisty and diligent as ever. She was one of the members who continuously seek the revision of old laws of the Wizarding Britain for the advancement of the community. And this endeavor led many old members to hate her presence. Change was loved by some but hated by many.

Hermione Granger was also the firm leader of the opposition side of the new Marriage Law.

\---  
"With the powers vested in me, I shall declare you, Husband and Wife," Kingsley Shacklebolt announced expressionlessly as he motioned his hand towards the crowd. Draco Malfoy stood in front of him, seven years from the war and three months since the passing of the Marriage Laws, eyes as stormy as the skies on that dreary autumn day and stiff as a board. He stood with his now wife, war heroine, Hermione Granger, whose eyes burned with angry fire and though her hair had been tamed for the occasion, some managed to escape its confines as electric anger seared to her soul. Neither one of the three people on the altar was happy about Minister Shacklebolt's announcement.

Robert Griffiths, a man in his seventies, stood in the front rows along with the rest of the Wizengamot members. The ones from the old pureblood community stood beside him while the ones from the new blood as they dubbed themselves stood on the row behind. Griffiths and his crew covered the sneers of the new blood, all belonging to the opposition, as they clapped boisterously for people their ages. They possessed wide grins and mirth on their faces. It was a stark contrast t the sneer and looks of disappointment and anger from the rest of the small crowd.

The Granger-Malfoy would be described by the Prophet as the Most Romantic Wedding of the Century but no one except the ignorant would believe it for the Granger-Malfoy wedding was doomed from the start.

\---  
"I don't understand it, Hermione!" Harry Potter said in a serious tone that Hermione rarely hears as she sat in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, with Ginny Potter by her side. Ron Weasley paced behind them.

"It's really simple, Harry. I am to marry Draco Malfoy for the simple fact that his family asked for my hand. And according to that stupid Marriage Laws, I cannot reject the offer until someone offered me something better before the wedding happens." Hermione explained with the calmness that shocked her because she was everything but calm.

"BLOODY SIMPLE IT IS!" Ron exclaimed in rage as he pounded his fist on the wooden table. This congregation sparked many memories of the past war but time had dulled their senses and there were more important things that mattered at the moment. One such was the imminent marriage of Hermione Granger to one Draco Malfoy of Wiltshire.

"I will make an offer for your hand. Trust me I will." Ron said sincerely as he stared into Hermione's eyes. She wanted to hug him but she was a realist.

For a year or so, she fought so hard to have the law pushed to the side and ignored for the rest of their lives, but she was not lucky. As soon as the Minister signed the laws on the werewolf community that Hermione pioneered, Griffiths pushed the talk on the dwindling population of the Wizarding Community into focus. And as much as she hated the Marriage Laws, it was a solution to the alarming problem. The words were sly and cunning leading her to believe that it was written by a former top Slytherin student with its eloquence and flowery words, yet it was as precise as ever to be passed into a law.

As more than half of the Wizengamot belonged to a magical family where arranged marriage was the norm, it was not hard for them to agree on the new Marriage Laws. Hermione Granger, along with Allan Thicke, a muggleborn wizard who was formerly the Head of Department of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, headed the opposition. It was a long and tough fight and they ultimately lost because fear was a powerful tool that those old purebloods knew how to wield better than Hermione and her crew. So the Minister had no choice but to sign and approve it. A month later, it was fully implemented and two months after, Narcissa Malfoy and her husband came to the Ministry with a huge sum of a dowry for Hermione Granger's hand.

Hermione looked at Ron and smiled a sad smile. She took his hand on hers and patted it with care. "I trust you, Ron. But I won't sacrifice our friendship and happiness that we won't find in marriage to each other just to save from the fate of marrying Malfoy. We've tried it before and failed. We shouldn't repeat it again," she said gloomily, her mind slowly accepting that it might be her fate for only another wizard as influential and as rich as the Malfoys can ask her hand and save her from the impending doom.

"Hermione, you can leave the country. We all can. Ginny and I will be there for you. You don't have to marry the bastard!" Harry exclaimed but he, too, was running out of ideas. He knew the ins and outs of the Malfoy wealth as it was closely monitored by his department. Ron wouldn't stand a chance.

"It was a nice thought, Harry, but you have a family here. I have mine too. And I won't leave them because the ferret wants me as his wife. I'm not a coward." She said firmly.

Ginny then grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. "You're not a coward, Malfoy is. And I think you've made your decision. I, we'll be here for you." She said with a firm squeeze, and a look towards her husband. She and along with her family will do everything in their power to take Hermione out of this marriage, even if they had to think like a Slytherin.

\---  
"I don't believe you, Mother. I am done with blindly following you and Father! I am my own person now and I implore you to respect me as I bestow my respect on you." Draco Malfoy said in a calm and stern manner as he listened to his mother end her gleeful tale of asking Hermione Granger's hand at the Ministry.

"I do respect you, Draco, dear boy. But you have responsibilities to fulfill as a Malfoy," Narcissa Malfoy said as she sat on her favorite ornate chair by the table in the Sun Room of Malfoy Manor. She took a delicate sip of her jasmine tea before she continued her speech.

"You are 25 years old, a bachelor of your prime and a successful businessman. You are fulfilling your roles as the head of this family in every sense except filial. You should have been married by the time you graduated Hogwarts. You should have had a heir by now, Draco. And yet you have none." She stared at him with eerie calmness and her guilt-ridden speech only made Draco feel frustrated even more.

After the war, the Malfoy family was sentenced to a lenient punishment. Lucius Malfoy was sent to Azkaban for three years and put into house arrest without the use of magic for another three. It was only last year that he got his wand but he was still on probation for another three years. Lady Narcissa Malfoy, on the other hand, being only a wife of a Death Eater, was put into house arrest for the years that her husband was in Azkaban. She was on magical probation for the next three and since then, she was a free woman.

Draco Malfoy, being forced into submission to become a Death Eater by Lord Voldemort themselves, had been allowed to take his NEWTs after a year in Hogwarts. He was put into a year-long probation after graduation. After that short punishment, he dove into the world of business where he discovered the spider web of lies and conceit that his father built with his colleagues. Slowly, Draco cleaned their business from bribery and anomaly. Two years after, Malfoy Incorporated only handled legal businesses and transparency had been their thing. Only the company chief maintained a low-profile, quite unlike our heroine who in her position in the Ministry was well-known by everyone in Wizarding Britain.

Draco had had enough of following his parents decisions without asking. He had long learned how to make his own and this move by his parents, led by his mother, had ruffled his feathers more than he expected it would. He had sworn off against arranged marriage as soon as his father signed the official Wizengamot papers of annulment of engagement with the youngest Greengrass, Astoria, the year after his probation. And now, to be married to Hermione Granger was a disaster waiting to happen.

He turned to look at his father who stood by the window, his back to the rest of the room. He had a pensive look on his face and Draco wondered how much was his father on in to the decision. His father was purist through and through, he couldn't have agreed to this lightly.

"And what do you think of this, Father?" Draco asked, politely keeping his curiosity and frustration out in addressing the man. Lucius Malfoy was a volatile as ticking bomb on his good days.

"I have no say in the decisions made in this house, Draco. I've had my chance, and it was now gone," his father replied astutely. Draco missed the glint in his father's eyes. Potter and his crew was after all the reason why he lost the power. Damaging Hermione Granger while in their supposed care was the way to exact his revenge.

Draco let out a frustrated sigh and stood up. He left the room feeling disturbed and agitated. The thought of marrying Hermione Granger on their free will didn't hurt as much as his younger self thought it would but marrying her under this laws, Draco could only hope Granger was Gryffindor enough to face the consequences of the actions of the people around them. She would not be dubbed as the quintessential Gryffindor if not. She better live up to his expectations.

\---  
A tense atmosphere hung in the air of the wedding reception of Hermione and Draco in the large ballroom of Malfoy Manor. Her parents sat by his and it was only Narcissa Malfoy who kept the conversation on going.

Half of the guests were blind to the tension in the air. They were senseless for their goal of punishing the Malfoys and the thorn, Granger, through this marriage has been achieved. Neither families nor circle of friends wanted this and the great rift between the two camps would cause so much destruction towards the newlyweds. "We have won the battle and we still need to win the war. We must keep our strength. Change is about to come, just not by the wench's whims," Robert Griffiths said to the bunch of Wizengamot members at his table. The Granger-Malfoy clan should fall down disgracefully from the pedestal they tried to conquer.

The other half was further divided into factions. One was Hermione's friends and family, and one was Draco's. Anger poured out of every pore at each side and any second now, one was bound to explode. Draco's bet was on Ron Weasley whose face was as red as his hair at the moment and it was getting redder each passing minute.

Yet the most delicate of all was Lucius Malfoy who sat by Hermione's father silently, tuning out the man and his attempts at conversation by staring at his now daughter-in-law. He contemplated on the best way to destroy her spirit for it was her best strength apart from her brains. He wasn't murderous but there was something dangerous with the way he looked at Hermione Granger-Malfoy and it gave her the chills when her eyes met his.

\---  
"Are you alright?" Draco asked as he felt Hermione shiver. He put his fork down. He was very tired despite not doing anything after the ceremony. The tension in the air was draining his energy.

"Why do you care?" Hermione bit back with a small glare then shrugged and shuffled away from his seat but the table they were seating at opposed the action as if charmed. It probably was.

"Listen here, Granger. I don't like this marriage, nor do I like you. But I am not letting these bastards win by watching us fall from grace. They want my family punished for the war and they want you punished for your endeavors to change the society we knew. You are a thorn to their side, and they wish to break us by marrying us," Draco explained as he stared at the boisterous table at the center of the room.

Robert Griffiths was red in the face. The fool was only too happy with his success. He didn't know Draco was on his scent. And he would use this situation to his advantage. But while Draco knew who the real enemy was, he was quite blind about the enemies Griffiths would sic on them.

"I am aware." Hermione replied quietly. She had resigned to the fate of being a Malfoy a month after the request. She knew no one would dare challenge the Malfoys for her hand. And Ron would only humiliate himself if he tried. Yet, she vowed to prove everyone wrong. This may be doomed from the start but she wasn't Hermione Granger for nothing. It would be to her advantage.

It made sense that Draco Malfoy would want the same. He was a Slytherin, and while she didn't know him well, she did know that he was the epitome of Slytherin and as such, he would use his cunning to survive. Self-preservation was first and foremost principle every Slytherin believed in.

"Fine, we call in a truce. It doesn't mean I like you. Probably never will." Hermione said, offering her hand to his under the table.

"Granger, I wish for success, not a bloody miracle. I assure you, I am fine with you not liking me. The sentiments are returned. Truce." He smirked as he firmly shook her hand as if closing a business deal with her.

"Now, if you don't mind, calm your redhead. We don't need a scandal on the first day of our marriage." Draco stood up from his seat to visit to their parents table to keep up with appearances.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes yet followed his example. Instead of the table next to theirs though, Hermione visited her friends. As much as she loath to admit it, Draco Malfoy was right. They didn't need Ron's explosive confrontation on their plate on their wedding day.

**Author's Note:**

> Hermione and Draco are stuck in a marriage neither of them wanted and that their families and friends will do anything to rip apart.
> 
> I feel like I should say sorry because there are so many gaps and holes in the plot but perhaps over time I can remedy those! I really love the idea of the arrange marriage so probably, I will continue to work on it soon. Thank you for the prompt and thank you for the chance!


End file.
